We cannot find quick and easy answers for Frequently Asked Questions; if we could, people wouldn’t keep asking them. That means that they’re worth looking at simply as a way of understanding why maybe these aren’t exactly the questions we need to be asking.
The question about baptizing ET usually brings a smile, but even though we can’t come up with any definitive answer (let’s wait until we meet ET!) it’s a wonderful question if only because it makes us think about what baptism means, what redemption means, and what it means to be human… human, as compared to what?
¿Bautizarías a un extraterrestre?
Article (blog post)- 1100 words
- Level: all audiences
This article by Enrique Solano of the Spanish Virtual Observatory-Centro de Astrobiología in Madrid, Spain, provides a concise overview of the discussion of the subject found in the book Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?: . . . and Other Questions from the Astronomers’ In-box at the Vatican Observatory, by Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., and Fr. Paul Mueller, S. J., both the the Vatican Observatory. Solano writes:
Ésta es la pregunta que realizaron a Guy Consolmagno, actual director del Observatorio Vaticano durante una rueda de prensa en Birmingham en el año 2010. Su respuesta: “Solamente si lo pide”.
Lo primero que debemos dejar claro es que, hasta la fecha, no hay ninguna evidencia de que los extraterrestres existan y/o se hayan puesto en contacto con nosotros. Es curioso como, justamente estas últimas dos décadas que es cuando cualquier persona gracias a su teléfono móvil cuenta con una cámara para grabar un posible avistamiento, coincidan con una bajada del interés y la popularidad del fenómeno OVNI. Y esto sin contar el cada vez mayor número de astrónomos amateurs que, con una instrumentación cada vez más avanzada, escudriñan los cielos cada noche a lo largo y ancho del planeta Tierra.
Pero volvamos al tema principal de esta entrada.Ciertamente la respuesta de Guy es una salida ingeniosa a una “pregunta-trampa”. Y es una pregunta trampa porque, si hubiera contestado afirmativamente, habria quedado como pretencioso (“quién te crees que eres para decirle a una civilización que puede ser incluso enormemente más avanzada que la nuestra lo que está bien y lo que está mal?”) e incluso algo ingenuo. Al contrario, si la respuesta hubiera sido negativa, Guy estaría admitiendo tácitamente que nuestra fe sería un fenómeno “local”, ceñido simplemente a la Tierra, algo que iría en contra de la universalidad de la Iglesia católica.
Por supuesto que la respuesta del director del Observatorio Vaticano representa una opinión personal y no es, ni mucho menos, la versión oficial de la Iglesia Católica (que, entiendo que con muy buen criterio, no se daría hasta que se presentara dicho caso), pero esta respuesta encierra algunas connotaciones teológicas que creo que merece la pena comentar….
Click here to access the entire article from the Solano’s blog, Preguntas (y respuestas) básicas sobre Ciencia y Fe.
Across the Universe: The Ethics of Extraterrestrials
- Article (blog post)
- 650 words
- Level: all audiences
A Tablet column (and now a post on The Catholic Astronomer blog) by Vatican Observatory astronomer Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., reviewing a discussion of ETs and aliens that was held during a meeting of astrobiologists at NASA Ames.
Approaching “Would you baptize an alien?” from the perspective of a Jesuit astronomer
- Article (PDF)
- 5300 words
- Level: all audiences
In November 1995, Fr. Christopher Corbally, S. J., an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, presented the annual Nash lecture at Campion College. This is the published text of the lecture.
[Click here to download PDF]
Corbally_NASH_Lecture1995
Talking science and God with Science Magazine
This link to an interview with Br. Guy Consolmagno explores some of the assumptions behind the question of baptism and Ets.
Continue reading →The Evolution of Intelligent Life on Earth and Possibly Elsewhere: Reflections from a Religious Tradition
- Article (PDF)
- 12 pages
- Level: university
Fr. George V. Coyne, S. J., Director of the Vatican Observatory from 1978 to 2006, writes that given the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligences, “theologians must accept a serious responsibility to rethink some fundamental realities within the context of religious belief. What is the human being? Could Jesus Christ, fully a human being, exist on more than one planet at more than one time?”
A version of this article appeared in Many Worlds: The New Universe, Extraterrestrial Life, and the Theological Implications (Templeton, 2000).
[Click here to download PDF]
ETs_Templet_Dick
Vatican space explorations
Article 1600 words Level: all audiences A general overview of questions pertaining to space and the Vatican, from Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly, 2009. Vatican space explorations Study of astronomy reminds us of the beauty of the universe — and its Creator OSV Newsweekly Why does the starlit sky hold such a profound fascination for us? Perhaps because it is there that we encounter, commingled, the mystery of light and darkness — two primal experiences connected with the beginning and end of human life. Perhaps it comes from seeing the order, both overt and occult, in the movements of the celestial spheres, with which we sense ourselves secretly involved. Perhaps it is because we feel so small before the starry universe: like a straw tossed into the ‘great sea of being,’ we feel ourselves confronted with destiny…” So begins Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo in his introduction to the new book “The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican” (Our Sunday Visitor, $39.95), which celebrates the … Continue reading →
Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? (An excerpt from the Introduction)
Article (blog post) with video- 800 words with 1.25 hour video
- Level: all audiences
This post by Bob Trembly on The Catholic Astronomer blog features an excerpt from the Introduction to the book, Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? … and Other Questions from the Astronomers’ In-box at the Vatican Observatory, by Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., and Fr. Paul Mueller, S. J., both of the Vatican Observatory. Within the post is a video of a 2014 talk of the same title, given by Br. Guy at Leeds Trinity University.
Click here for a preview of Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial from Google Books.
Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? The Colbert Report
- Video
- 6 minutes
- Level: high school and above
A short piece from The Colbert Report on Comedy Central in which Colbert constructs a caricature of thought regarding extra-terrestrial intelligence and then interviews Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., of the Vatican Observatory.
Click here to go to the Comedy Central page with this video.
Talking science and God with Science Magazine
This link to an interview with Br. Guy Consolmagno explores some of the assumptions behind the question of baptism and Ets.
Continue reading →Across the Universe: The Ethics of Extraterrestrials
- Article (blog post)
- 650 words
- Level: all audiences
A Tablet column (and now a post on The Catholic Astronomer blog) by Vatican Observatory astronomer Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., reviewing a discussion of ETs and aliens that was held during a meeting of astrobiologists at NASA Ames.
Approaching “Would you baptize an alien?” from the perspective of a Jesuit astronomer
- Article (PDF)
- 5300 words
- Level: all audiences
In November 1995, Fr. Christopher Corbally, S. J., an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, presented the annual Nash lecture at Campion College. This is the published text of the lecture.
[Click here to download PDF]
Corbally_NASH_Lecture1995
¿Bautizarías a un extraterrestre?
- Article (blog post)
- 1100 words
- Level: all audiences
This article by Enrique Solano of the Spanish Virtual Observatory-Centro de Astrobiología in Madrid, Spain, provides a concise overview of the discussion of the subject found in the book Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?: . . . and Other Questions from the Astronomers’ In-box at the Vatican Observatory, by Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., and Fr. Paul Mueller, S. J., both the the Vatican Observatory. Solano writes:
Ésta es la pregunta que realizaron a Guy Consolmagno, actual director del Observatorio Vaticano durante una rueda de prensa en Birmingham en el año 2010. Su respuesta: “Solamente si lo pide”.
Lo primero que debemos dejar claro es que, hasta la fecha, no hay ninguna evidencia de que los extraterrestres existan y/o se hayan puesto en contacto con nosotros. Es curioso como, justamente estas últimas dos décadas que es cuando cualquier persona gracias a su teléfono móvil cuenta con una cámara para grabar un posible avistamiento, coincidan con una bajada del interés y la popularidad del fenómeno OVNI. Y esto sin contar el cada vez mayor número de astrónomos amateurs que, con una instrumentación cada vez más avanzada, escudriñan los cielos cada noche a lo largo y ancho del planeta Tierra.
Pero volvamos al tema principal de esta entrada.Ciertamente la respuesta de Guy es una salida ingeniosa a una “pregunta-trampa”. Y es una pregunta trampa porque, si hubiera contestado afirmativamente, habria quedado como pretencioso (“quién te crees que eres para decirle a una civilización que puede ser incluso enormemente más avanzada que la nuestra lo que está bien y lo que está mal?”) e incluso algo ingenuo. Al contrario, si la respuesta hubiera sido negativa, Guy estaría admitiendo tácitamente que nuestra fe sería un fenómeno “local”, ceñido simplemente a la Tierra, algo que iría en contra de la universalidad de la Iglesia católica.
Por supuesto que la respuesta del director del Observatorio Vaticano representa una opinión personal y no es, ni mucho menos, la versión oficial de la Iglesia Católica (que, entiendo que con muy buen criterio, no se daría hasta que se presentara dicho caso), pero esta respuesta encierra algunas connotaciones teológicas que creo que merece la pena comentar….
Click here to access the entire article from the Solano’s blog, Preguntas (y respuestas) básicas sobre Ciencia y Fe.
Vatican space explorations
Article 1600 words Level: all audiences A general overview of questions pertaining to space and the Vatican, from Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly, 2009. Vatican space explorations Study of astronomy reminds us of the beauty of the universe — and its Creator OSV Newsweekly Why does the starlit sky hold such a profound fascination for us? Perhaps because it is there that we encounter, commingled, the mystery of light and darkness — two primal experiences connected with the beginning and end of human life. Perhaps it comes from seeing the order, both overt and occult, in the movements of the celestial spheres, with which we sense ourselves secretly involved. Perhaps it is because we feel so small before the starry universe: like a straw tossed into the ‘great sea of being,’ we feel ourselves confronted with destiny…” So begins Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo in his introduction to the new book “The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican” (Our Sunday Visitor, $39.95), which celebrates the … Continue reading →
Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? (An excerpt from the Introduction)
- Article (blog post) with video
- 800 words with 1.25 hour video
- Level: all audiences
This post by Bob Trembly on The Catholic Astronomer blog features an excerpt from the Introduction to the book, Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? … and Other Questions from the Astronomers’ In-box at the Vatican Observatory, by Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., and Fr. Paul Mueller, S. J., both of the Vatican Observatory. Within the post is a video of a 2014 talk of the same title, given by Br. Guy at Leeds Trinity University.
Click here for a preview of Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial from Google Books.
Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? The Colbert Report
- Video
- 6 minutes
- Level: high school and above
A short piece from The Colbert Report on Comedy Central in which Colbert constructs a caricature of thought regarding extra-terrestrial intelligence and then interviews Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., of the Vatican Observatory.
Click here to go to the Comedy Central page with this video.
The Evolution of Intelligent Life on Earth and Possibly Elsewhere: Reflections from a Religious Tradition
- Article (PDF)
- 12 pages
- Level: university
Fr. George V. Coyne, S. J., Director of the Vatican Observatory from 1978 to 2006, writes that given the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligences, “theologians must accept a serious responsibility to rethink some fundamental realities within the context of religious belief. What is the human being? Could Jesus Christ, fully a human being, exist on more than one planet at more than one time?”
A version of this article appeared in Many Worlds: The New Universe, Extraterrestrial Life, and the Theological Implications (Templeton, 2000).
[Click here to download PDF]
ETs_Templet_Dick